Markov random field on region adjacency graph for the fusion of SAR and optical data in radargrammetric applications

This paper deals with the estimation of an elevation model using a pair of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and an optical image in semiurban areas. The proposed method is based on a Markovian regularization of an elevation field defined on a region adjacency graph (RAG). This RAG is obtained by oversegmenting the optical image. The support for elevation hypotheses is given by the structural matching of features extracted from both SAR images. The regularization model takes into account discontinuities of buildings thanks to an implicit edge process. Starting from a good initialization, optimization is obtained through an iterated conditional mode algorithm.